Apollo Justice – Ace Attorney Trilogy review: There’ll be no objections to this courtroom comedy drama

Many game publishers could take a lesson from how Capcom has preserved and refurbished these long-running visual novels, which originated on the Game Boy Advance in 2001 and graduated to the DS and 3DS. Instead of merely re-releasing the originals in recent years, the Japanese company has remastered, tweaked and bundled key instalments into big-value packages.

In the wake of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy (2019) and The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles (2021), here comes the Apollo Justice collection, gathering three titles first published between 2007 and 2016.

Like their companions in the back catalogue, these follow roughly the same Ace Attorney formula in which a lawyer acts for what appears to an indefensible client in an open-and-shut case. Each instalment of the trilogy contains four to six lengthy trials full of twists, outright blindsiding and – most of all – a great deal of amusing banter, histrionics and yells of “Objection!”.

In the first case, for instance, newbie lawyer Apollo Justice defends Phoenix Wright –the hero attorney of the previous games who is somewhat inexplicably now a poker player – in a murder trial. Wright’s guilt seems obvious but Apollo has to learn his trade somehow and picks his way through the statements of two witnesses, comparing them to the evidence and exposing the inconsistences.

The script heaves with puns, sarky asides and tossed-off one-liners. This banter could almost suffice as the game’s sole entertainment but there’s some detective work at play too. Careful study of the trial’s photo exhibits and the exact words of the testimonies will reveal conflicts that could unsettle the witnesses and crack open the case. Later trials also introduce mechanics such as perception, where you watch the witnesses closely for signs they are lying.

A certain amount of leeway allows you to bungle the questioning and chose another approach but there’ll be a reckoning if you constantly annoy the judge with your wild goose chases down cul de sacs.

Apollo may be in the title of this anthology but he regularly cedes the spotlight to Phoenix Wright in the second and third parts of the trilogy: Dual Destinies and Spirit of Justice. These sequels follow the same series blueprints faithfully, however, with a few exceptions. Dual Destinies, for instance, incorporates three playable protagonists and adds an investigations mode where you scope out crime scenes before presenting the case in court. More weirdly, Spirit of Justice summons seances into the mix, enabling you to view the moments before a victim’s death.

Thankfully, the trilogy doesn’t depend totally on heinous murders, with some cases hingeing on ridiculous conceits, such as the one involving stolen knickers. About the worst thing you could say about this collection – and possibly the entire series – is that it sometimes bears scant resemblance to legal reality, with occasionally tortuous logic and cop-out endings.

Nonetheless, the overall standard remains high throughout and Capcom is to be applauded for its treatment of these remasters. Visually, they’ve been considerably groomed compared to their originals on DS and 3DS. Ultra-fans will be also amused by the art gallery, soundtrack compilation and meme-maker, plus the ability to jump into any episode of any case at will.

For the terminally lazy seeking an anime-style courtroom comedy, you could just turn on Reader mode, which dispenses with all interaction and puzzles to present each trial as an unbroken visual novel.